May you know joy and peace this Christmas. May you feel loved and known. May you find deep rest as you enter a season of celebration. And may you experience the invitation of the One who came to earth as a baby and now lives and dwells in those who follow him.
Happy Christmas!
Art from Celebrating Christmas: Embracing Joy through Art and Reflections by Amy Boucher Pye and Leo Boucher.
My first Christmas in England was marked with flashes of sadness as I missed being with my family in Minnesota. Although I was thrilled to be with my new husband, I wasn’t sure how this first Christmas apart from my loved ones across the Atlantic would be. When I made the expensive phone call, I felt even more gloom upon hearing their loving voices. I expressed my regret of not being with them at Christmas and my dad replied, ‘Amy, you longed to marry and now you have. It’s right that you’re there with Nicholas.’ He was wise and gentle, even if at that moment I struggled to listen.
Some years later, one Christmas morning I looked around the living room of a friend of a friend, wishing we were back in north London. Although our home there was decorated to the hilt, we were on England’s south coast because my husband was signed off from his work as a church minister. His mother’s death a couple of months before set off some family issues and brought about a stint of depression, meaning no shared Christmas with our church family. I felt like we were wandering in the wilderness, not knowing how long the mental-health issues will last or how the family stuff would work out.
Those two Christmases are the closest that I’ve experienced to having a ‘blue Christmas’. I’m aware, however, that the pain and heartache of others may be far more intense. For instance, your table might never again include that special someone sitting at it. Living in a world marred by sin, disease and death, we’ll all have a Christmas tinged with sadness at some point.
Some churches host a ‘longest night’ service (calling it that instead of ‘blue Christmas’ to get away from the associations with the Elvis Presley song), where people can celebrate Christmas without any forced jollity. Instead of having to bury their feelings of pain and anguish, they can express them to God through the reflective singing and prayers. Attending such a service doesn’t require a tragedy either; it can be an oasis of calm amid a too-busy time of parties, baking and gift exchanges.
God welcomes the cries of lament from his people; indeed, Jesus wept angry tears at the tomb of Lazarus. The time of Advent can actually help us to lament, because it reminds us to wait for the second coming of Christ, when God will come and relieve us of our pain: ‘“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’ (Revelation 21:4). Celebrating Christmas through tears can mean acknowledging that we hold the answer to our lament through the gift of Christ. Even as we wait for his coming again.
If you’re feeling low and broken this year, I pray you’ll find comfort and hope in the God who comes to brush away the tears from your eyes. As you release your pain to him, may you experience a deep sense of love, peace and even joy.
Loving Lord, how you must grieve at the pain we experience. Deal with us ever so mercifully and reveal your presence when we feel we’re lost or wandering. Bind up our wounds and give us the strength to worship as you renew our stores of hope. Amen.
This article is adapted from Celebrating Christmas: Embracing Joy through Art and Reflections by Amy Boucher Pye and Leo Boucher.
You can watch Amy on Sunday Night Live, talking about a Blue Christmas, starting at 9.35.
The Advent and Christmas seasons will be here in seemingly the blink of an eye! If you think the season will be busy for you, why not get yourself a copy or two of Celebrating Christmas, a gorgeous book of my dad’s art with my reflections? Its short readings and beautiful paintings pack a lot of goodness in a small space. Great for gift-giving too.
You can read the introduction and this first meditation in this sample, courtesy of BRF, my publisher. Here’s how to purchase.
It brings me great joy to wish you a happy Christmas! Whether you’re experiencing unadulterated joy with the gathering of your dreams or you’re feeling sad about changed plans – or somewhere in between – may you know the wonder of the Gift of Christmas, Jesus, God and Man.
I’m grateful to know that so many of you have been enjoying my dad’s art (and yes, my reflections) in Celebrating Christmas. I know many have read it during Advent, but I wonder if it’s best read starting today on the eve of the season of Christmas – read two a day during today and the twelve days of Christmas, sitting under the tree with something hot and mulled in your hand.
May you know peace and laughter and joy and wonder and rest. As we in my family adjust to a different Christmas, we’re grateful for so many prayers and well-wishes.
I’m pausing the prayer guest blog series for a few weeks over the holiday period; I look forward to sharing some more wonderful contributions later in January. Here’s a prayer from Celebrating Christmas for this Advent season.
You can buy a copy of this book with my dad’s wonderful art and my reflections.
May you know God’s loving light and presence this week as we prepare for Christmas.
As we move toward Christmas, we can become overwhelmed with plans and carol concerts and baking and shopping and wondering whether or not to host that Christmas meal in these pandemic times. We can overlook the reason for all of this activity – Jesus being born.
Why not stop for a few moments and ponder the earthly vessel who hosted his earlier life, Mary? I love this painting of my dad’s – one similar to it appears in Celebrating Christmas. To be honest, I can’t remember why we chose that one over this one just now – you’ll have to check out the book to compare the differences!
You can use this painting as a prompt for prayer. Spend some time asking God to speak to you, perhaps reading through the story in Luke’s gospel of the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary with God’s special invitation. You could open your heart to any invitations God might have for you – perhaps to collaborate with him on a new project or perhaps simply to spend some time enjoying each other’s presence.
May we like Mary respond to God, saying, “Be it done unto me according to your word.”
To buy a copy of Celebrating Christmas, see purchase options here.
[Image – painting by Leo Boucher. Used with permission. All rights reserved.}
Here we are in Advent, and I haven’t yet set up the Advent wreath or figured out if I’m going to read something different for my daily devotional time. Can you relate?
Whether we are super organized and have all of our Christmas shopping already done (and yes I do actually know a few people in this enviable position) or we are catching our breath, wondering where November went, it’s all grace. I am guessing God is more delighted that we’re preparing our hearts for Jesus rather than him chastising us for being a wee bit late.
Advent used to be a time of fasting, not feasting. Similar to Lent in that it’d be a season of preparing for the feast of Christmas. Culturally we’ve turned things around, however, and for many people, Christmas ends on the 26th. I so respect those who observe Advent in the historic sense, but I’m so much a creature of culture that I tend to do a bit of both – I set up the tree around now and have been known to listen to Christmas carols before Christmas Eve, but we like to observe Advent as a family and definitely like to extend the Christmas celebrations to Epiphany (for us even something as simple as eating our evening meal in the dining room makes it more festive).
However you’re celebrating the season, I hope you will sense God’s presence, drawing you closer to him.
Here’s a prayer from the first entry in Celebrating Christmas, which focuses on light. You can read the introduction and this first meditation in this sample, courtesy of BRF, my publisher. And yes, you can read this book day by day during Advent (it has 25 chapters) or while curled up by the Christmas tree during the twelve days of Christmas.
Jesus, you bring light and life. As I yield to you, your presence within me burns away that which is not holy. Help me to welcome your clarifying light, that I might be free of any sin that clings. May your light within be a gentle and welcoming beacon, a signal in these dark times of a safe haven. Amen
To buy a copy of Celebrating Christmas, please visit a Christian bookshop if you can. Here’s a list of places to purchase, including online.